Michael O’Neill: The Northern Ireland manager will not take the Blackburn job permanently.

Northern Ireland fans will be delighted that O’Neill has agreed to continue in his role as manager, particularly as he lays the foundations for future success.

Asked about his future in March for Northern Ireland’s June games, he said he would be “back to normal”, but said a decision would still be made in April, setting off alarm bells.

Thankfully, for all parties, the decision was made quickly, allowing O’Neill to work on preparing the NI squad for June’s friendlies and the upcoming Nations League campaign, with Blackburn now having plenty of time to appoint a permanent boss ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

O’Neill, like his first spell, inherited a troubled Northern Ireland team from predecessor Ian Barraclough and despite them failing to qualify for Euro 2024 and this year’s World Cup, he has shaped them into a more competitive and attractive side.

In March’s World Cup play-off loss to Italy, the average age of O’Neill’s starting squad was 22.5 years old – the second youngest in the country since the Second World War.

Add in the three key players missing for the game in Connor Bradley, Dan Ballard and Ali McCann, and the age profile remains the same, showing a high ceiling for this young but talented team to develop.

As O’Neill remains in this role, the belief that he will lead the team to another European Championship, as he did after building with the team in 2016, will begin to grow.

Irish FA O’Neill He knows the job will now be very attractive to potential suitors ahead of his return in 2022, but he will be happy he decided to stay for the next qualifying campaign and there will be no upheaval before the Nations League kicks off in September.